This post exists to collect all the links from our Forum on Iain M. Banks' The Hydrogen Sonata into one coherent place: Chris Brown: A Triumphant Return to Form | Gerard van der Ree: Learning from Utopia | Iver B. Neumann: Religion and the...
When I asked for suggestions for interview subjects for the NBinSFF podcast, Alastair Reynolds was high on the list (albeit mostly over email channels). Well, he agreed, and I'm scheduled to...
The New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy channel of the New Books Network launched today. In its inaugural podcast, I interview Ken MacLeod about The Night Sessions. From my summary:As I hope...
A few weeks ago I mentioned that I am now chief interviewer for the New Books Network's SF and Fantasy channel. I've got some exciting authors lined up for launch, and a few more who have agreed to...
This just in from the Interwebs. According to Airlock Alpha, the film Battlestar Galactica: The Plan won't air on Syfy until next year."The much anticipated movie, which is a new take on the pivotal events of “Battlestar Galactica,” will tell the story of the attack on the Twelve Colonies from the point of view of the Cylons.Fans are eagerly anticipating the release and with much reason. The show ended in April, which left a lot of fans wanting more after only four seasons. Edward James Olmos, the director and legendary Adm. William Adama in the series that ran from 2003 to 2009, has said on...
From a recent article on social-science methodology:For example, gravity is a trivial necessary cause of revolution, because gravity is simply always present regardless of whether or not a revolution happens.Clearly, not everyone in my field is a science-fiction fan.nb: someone has suggested to me that the authors mean "revolution" as in "Venus revolves around the Sun." But gravity is certainly not a non-trivial cause of such revolution; given the context of the article, I'm pretty sure the authors use the term in the "grab the pitchfork and storm the castle" sense....
I kid you not. The Chicago Tribune reports the following:"On March 17, there will be a "Battlestar" retrospective at the U.N. in New York and a panel discussion of how the show examined issues such as "human rights, children and armed conflict, terrorism, human rights and reconciliation and dialogue among civilizations and faith," according to Sci Fi. The "Battlestar" contingent on the panel will consist of executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, as well as stars Mary McDonnell (who plays president Laura Roslin on the show) and Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama). UN...
On the Report tonight, Stephen Colbert gave a long, funny, monologue about how he is more hip-hop-pop-cultural-savvy than Michael Steele. Then, in the following segment on Node 3 of the International Space Station, he (and his screenwriters) seemingly demonstrated a surprising lack of cultural literacy. How else to explain their disbelief at the fact that "Serenity" beat out "Colbert" as one of the most-recommended names for Node 3? Watch the clip and tell me if I'm misinterpreting this.The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cSpace Module Colbert - William GerstenmaierColbert Report...
In the mailbox today, I found my pre-ordered copy of Peter Singer's new book Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. NPR had an interview with Singer yesterday, which gives you a good sense of his argument and some of the fascinating and frightening changes coming down the pipeline in military affairs.I was excited to sink my teeth into this before the semester gets started, since I'm eager to update my curriculum on battlefield robots, and since I'll be blogging in an upcoming symposium at Complex Terrain Lab on the book next month. I'll save most of my...
So this is a spoof of facebook news feed created for the Battlestar Galactica Miniseries. Hat tip to Robert Farley. Also, Season 4.0 was released today, so any of us who didn't follow the series in real-time from the start now have ten days to quickly catch up on all our episodes before the final season begins on January 16th... Yikes, too bad I'm in New York doing interviews and can't start until this Friday... Gods help me...
Picked up my copy of International Studies Perspectives yesterday to discover Abigail Ruane and Patrick James' article "The International Relations of Middle Earth: Learning from The Lord of the Rings" leading the "Pedagogy and the Discipline" Section. Just another example of why ISP is my favorite IR journal. I read the article with gusto. The piece "overviews how J.R.R. Tolkien's acclaimed triology is relevant to learing about IR and then presents a number of 'cuts' into using LOTR to inform IR teaching of both problem solving and critical theory." These include relating IR's three "Great...